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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress cursor”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “wordpress cursor”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Smooth Custom Cursor shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 3236 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #1 2 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #12 7 too low 6 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #7 8 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 too low 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #19 ↓5 8 too low 12 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Security Ninja – WordPress Security & Firewall 7K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Jeg Kit for Elementor – Powerful Addons for Elementor, Widgets & Templates for WordPress 300K+ · 3.8★ (79) wp.org #14 ↓4 15 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #3 ↓1 12 too high 16 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 AR for WordPress 300+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Cursor Style & Animation 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 WSP MCP – Free MCP Plugin for WordPress: Connect Claude, ChatGPT & AI Agents 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑5 1 too high 20 Smooth Custom Cursor 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 15 too high 21 Animated Mouse Cursor Trail 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Cursor Image Lite 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 Hura Custom Cursors 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 CursorFlex – Stylish Cursor Effects for WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓4

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.